Buy You a Drink?
by Darthrath
Summary: What if at the end of 'The Final Nail' things happened between Castle and Beckett? This is what i think should have happened. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

I can't believe this is happening. Damien? Why? How could my friend lie to me like this? I have to go. When I walk out, who else is there but Kate. My partner. I want her to be more, but she is with Josh. Doctor motorcycle boy. More like doctor motorcycle ass. Ha. She looks good today. She is giving me that familiar look of sympathy. I walk up to her. We are on the side walk watching Damien get lead into the police cruiser.

"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." she says as I come up next to her. "F. Scott Fitzgerald said that."

"And it was Earnest Hemingway that said ''man I sure could use a drink right about now.''" I say.

I really could use one. It's days like this where I truly hate crime. Hate murderers. She looks at me with those beautiful brown eyes. A small smile appears on her face.

"Lead the way. I'm buying." she says.

Wow. She is offering me a drink on valentines day. Why?

I furrow my eyebrows a bit as we start to walk. "It's valentines day. Shouldn't you be out with Josh?" I ask.

"I got a couple of hours." she answers. "You okay?"

Truthfully I am not.

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"Liar." she says as she elbows my arm softly and smiles at me.

God, I want her. Not for sex. Just to be with her and be there for her. I knew I was truly in love with her since that night I kissed her as a distraction for that guard outside of the building where Esposito and Ryan were being tortured. Sure I felt something before that, but I wasn't sure until I kissed her. It felt so exhilarating to rush Lockwood and knock the crap out of him. When we get to the old haunt we sit at a booth. She sits across from me. She removes her jacket. She wears a red turtleneck that shows her curves. I order a scotch and she orders a beer.

"So how's the next book coming?" she asks.

"It's good. I'll be done soon. How's Josh?"

"He's I don't know. He's away a lot and..." she trails off.

"You two having problems?" I ask.

She stares at me with her interrogation face. I shouldn't have asked that.

"Yeah. Sometimes I don't think I truly even like him."

Her face softens. I have this sudden feeling like, maybe she knows she doesn't want him. Who does she want then? Me? I hope it's me. Our drinks arrive. We drink for a while until I finally talk.

"Sorry to hear about that." I respond as I sip my scotch.

She looks me in the eye. "Are you?"

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"I think you know." she answers.

Is she talking about my feelings for her. How does she know. Wait maybe she doesn't.

"What?"

"Wow. You are a bad liar Castle."

"What do you mean this?" I ask before I sit up, lean over the table, and give her a slow passionate kiss.

I don't know what I am thinking, but it feels so good when I kiss her. Surprisingly, she doesn't push away. Instead, she grabs my face runs her hands through my hair as our lips touch. I pull away and sit down.

"Sorry." I say slowly.

She doesn't respond. She just looks at me, breathless with her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Kate say something."

She stays silent. She looks at me with longing and want. She gets up and sits next to me. She grabs my face and pulls it to hers. Our lips collide together in a frenzy of passion. Her hands wander. I feel them run up and down my chest. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close to me. We pull back for air. We smile at each other.

"I love you Kate." I tell her.

"Ever since you kissed me that night, I needed and wanted that again. I love you too Rick."

Wow. She said my first name. She always calls me Castle, but not right now. We continue to kiss until a familiar voice stops us.

"What the hell?" Josh says.

We both look up and see him standing there in his leather jacket and is staring at us with pure anger.

"Um. Josh. Hi. What are you doing here?" Beckett asks next to me.

"Ryan told me you guys went to get a drink. What the hell are you doing. You're with me not him."

I just watch all this happen. Kate stands in front of him.

"Am I?" she asks. "You're barely in this country when I want or need you."

People start to look at them.

"That's because I have people to help." Josh snaps at her.

He glares at me for a moment and goes back to Beckett.

"Oh. Right. That's great and honorable, but when we are actually together, you aren't enough for me." she snaps back.

"And who is. Him? All he has ever wanted was to get in your pants Kate." he says gesturing to me.

"Don't you dare say another word about him. You know nothing. He has been there for me more than you ever have."

It's amazing how she defends me. I never wanted to just get in her pants. Sure, at first I did because I was an ass, but I have changed and she has noticed. That's why she said she loves me.

"You know what forget both of you. I'm out of here." he says as he storms out of the old haunt and slams the door.

She sits back down next to me. She grabs her beer and finishes it. I do the same with my glass of scotch.

"Need another drink?" I ask as we put down our empty glasses.

"No. I just need you."

She grabs me and pulls me close again. We kiss. This is all kinda odd. First we confess our love for each other, then she breaks up with Josh, and on top of everything, it's valentines day. Now here we are kissing again. Her hands wander and go up into my hair. I put my hands on her hips. I never felt so alive.

She pulls away with her arms still around me. "Lets go to my place." she says seductively to me before she bites her lip between her teeth.

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yes. I couldn't be more sure about anything else. I want this Rick. I want us."

"So do I." I say.

"Let's go then."

We smile and get up. I pay quickly and we leave. We are in a rush. We get in a cab and are at her apartment in a few minutes. We can't keep our hands off each other. The whole cab ride, we were all over each other. When we get in her apartment, we close the door with our bodies. She pulls me close to her as we kiss. Her tongue brushes against my lips. I let it in. Moans and groans escape both of us in our frenzy. She wraps her legs around my hips as we undress. I support her weight and take her to the bedroom. It has been a very interesting valentines day.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up from that beautiful dream I just had. I don't feel her next to me when I stir, so it must have been a dream. Beckett told me she loves me and we went to her place for the rest of the night. Talk about a wild dream. I smell food being made. Oh God. I hope mother isn't cooking. I open my eyes expecting to see my room. I am wrong. It's Beckett's bedroom I see when I sit up. The sheet falls from my chest. Fresh sunlight illuminates the room. Well then. I come to reality when she walks in wearing only my shirt from last night. She carries two cups of coffee.

She smiles at me when she sees I'm awake. "Brought you a coffee."

"So it wasn't a dream?" I smile back and prop myself with my hand as she hands me my cup.

"No, you definitely weren't dreaming." she giggles and sits on the bed in front of me.

"Well you were right. I had no idea." I say.

"So you liked it?"

"Yeah."

"And the part where-"

"Especially that part. I loved that."

I did. I loved what we did last night. Three rounds of pure love making. Something only a man and woman in love can do. We sip our coffee.

"So you're on board with this as well right? It's not some, ''Oh, I need to let loose on someone.'' or something like that?" I ask as I put our coffees on a night stand.

She goes a bit serious. "No. Not for me."

"Good me neither."

"Good."

"Good." I echo.

We smile at each other.

"We don't have any murders today. So we have the day off." she says as she slowly unbuttons my shirt she is wearing.

God, she is beautiful. I am such a lucky guy now that I finally have her.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"So, what would you like to do then?" I ask as I pull the shirt from her shoulder.

"I don't know we could read."

"We could watch TV."

"We could get something to eat."

"Yeah, we could do that." I say as we kiss slowly.

The shirt comes off and we go one more round. We finally go and eat breakfast after we get dressed. She teases me by the way she walks out to the kitchen.

"I made pancakes." she says.

I sit at the table and look at her funny.

"What?" she asks.

"Pancakes?" I joke and smile.

"Shut up." she smiles back.

We sit and eat at the table.

"So, since there isn't any murder today, how about we go-"

I am cut off by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Beckett yells.

"It's Esposito."

Oh crap. If he comes in here, he's gonna tell everyone about Kate and I. Oh well. It's not like we can hide it because of the meal for two.

Kate looks at me in shock. "Quick, hide in the closet." she commands.

"What? Why?" I ask.

"I'm not ready for people to know about us. I want you all to myself for a while longer." she answers.

I think on this then give up. "fine."

I quickly run to the closet and partially shut the door so I can see everything. I am slightly getting smothered from the jackets. I see her quickly take my silverware and plate. She throws them in the sink.

"Everything okay Beckett?"

"Fine." Kate yells.

She lets him in. "What's up Espo?" she asks as he walks in.

"We got a case."

Dammit. Just when we thought we had the day off. When will it end? Oh, well. Duty calls.

"You couldn't call me for this?"

"I tried, but you never answered."

That's because we were busy.

"Alright. I'll meet you there. Where is it?"

"Queens. See ya there." Esposito says before leaving.

I get out of the closet when she shuts the door behind him.

"That was close." I say.

"Yeah. It was."

"So what do we do now?" I ask.

"You go to the crime scene after me so no one suspects anything."

"Alright."

She leaves after quickly finishing breakfast. I leave after her. This is going to be very interesting. I quickly buy two coffees from the nearest coffee shop. I meet everyone at the crime scene. An alley with a cab that has been hijacked. I walk up to Beckett.

"Good morning detective." I smirk as I hand her her coffee.

"Thanks."

We drink as we look at the body. Lanie is standing next to the victim doing her usual diagnosis. Esposito is talking to a witness while Ryan is on the phone with someone.

"What do we got?" Beckett asks Lanie.

The victim is a male. His body is slumped over a few barrels. There is a bullet wound in his head.

"Single gunshot wound to the head. The cab looks like someone was looking for something." Lanie answers.

"Looks like they found it." Esposito adds. "There are remains from a security camera in the cab."

"You sure baby?" Lanie asks.

"Positive."

"Did you just call him baby?" Beckett asks.

Lanie looks at her in surprise. "Did I?" she jokes.

Beckett and I start to walk.

"What do you think?" she asks.

"Not sure. Can't tell yet." I answer.

"Really? The famous Richard Castle, who usually has some odd theory right after we see the victim, has nothing?"

"Well maybe it's because I am still in a haze from that wonderful night." I tease.

She punches me in the arm. "Not so loud."

I smile. I am so glad that were more than partners now. This is truly the always I wanted. Now we just need to figure out this case. Why is this man dead? Who killed him? We talk to witnesses and all that stuff. We are lead to a storage room the next day. Beckett and I move in. We see a big box at the end of the room. Beckett opens it. I stand close next to her as we look inside. It is full of c4. All of a sudden, something starts beeping. Beckett's face fills with panic. She looks at her side quick. There is a small device on her belt. Thats what the noise is coming from.

"Castle get out!" she commands.

"Beckett what's-"

"No time. Get out!"

We step out of the storage room and she takes out her phone. She calls the precinct.

"This is detective Beckett. My partner and I have been exposed to high levels of radiation.


	3. Chapter 3

It all happened so fast. All I could think about was Beckett. We were separated and next thing I know I am being dragged through this white canvas hall and lead into a room. The men in radiation suits unzip a doorway and push me in. I see her standing next to a bench as I hear the zipper go back down. We just stand there looking at each other. Concern on both our faces. I slowly walk over to her. I pull her in my arms when I reach her. She squeezes me against her.

"What is going on?" I ask her.

"The censor on my waist is a radiation censor."

"What happened?"

"The reading went off the charts." she answers.

"What does that mean?"

"That..." she trails off.

"NO!" I push her slightly so I can look her in the eyes. "Don't you dare say that were gonna die. I finally have you. I am not losing you now."

"I know. I don't want to lose you either."

She says it as though she has lost hope. I wish we were anywhere but here. At a coffee shop or Remy's or something. I am Richard Castle and I am not going to die like this. I hold her tighter, afraid to let her go. She does the same. We stay like this until someone in a hazmat suit finally enters. We quickly pull away as he enters.

He pulls off his mask. "Mister Castle, detective Beckett, It's safe. You can come out now."

Kate and I look at him in confusion.

"I thought we were exposed to highly dangerous levels of radiation?" Kate asks.

"Turns out it wasn't lethal. You'll both be alright." he explains as we walk outside.

Thank God. Who put that case there? Why was there radiation? Kate and I exchange small smiles. We are glad to be alive. We start to walk to the team. Esposito, Ryan and Lanie are waiting for us by their cars. On our way over, Kate pulls me close by the collar so she can whisper something.

"You, me, my place tonight. We need to celebrate." she smiles and looks back at the team.

I don't say anything. I just smile at the thought. We go serious as we get to them.

"Hey guys. We were worried sick." Ryan says to us.

"Girl. You gotta stop doing this to me." Lanie says to Kate.

"I'm trying my best Lanie." Kate says with a smile.

Lanie hugs her. Ryan and Esposito pat me on the back.

"Glad you're okay bro." Esposito says to me.

"Yeah, me too." I tell them.

Back at the precinct we find out that an agent from the CIA is going to be assisting us in this case due to the bomb element. His name is Fallon. He is slightly shorter than me, but he looks like he could easily kill me if he had to. He has one of those tough sounding voices.

"Good to meet you detective." he says as he shakes Kate's hand.

Fallon isn't too fond of me. I don't care though. I have Kate. She'll always be all I need. One thing leads to another and our investigation leads Beckett and I to an old parking garage. We walk in. She pulls her pistol when we see the van we are looking for.

"Stay behind me." she commands as we move further.

I do as I am told. Then the bad guys start shooting at us. We get pushed back and go into a big freezer. We wait until they come and open the door. They close and lock it instead. I walk over to a body on the floor. It's the man we were looking for. We realize we are trapped. Kate zips up her jacket and we bundle together against the wall of the giant freezer. It's getting colder as the minutes go by. I can feel the cold trying to consume me. We both start shivering intensely. She leans against me and starts to fall asleep a bit. I shake her awake.

"It's...so...c-cold Castle." she murmurs.

"Don't w-worry Kate. We'll get through this." I try to reassure her.

Icicles are forming on my face. No! I won't die like this. We just got together.

"Castle." she starts as she raises her hand to my chin. "Thank you...for always being there for me."

I pull her tighter to me. "A-always. I love you Kate."

"I love you t-"

She drifts before she can finish her sentence.

"Kate? Kate." I say in alarm.

I don't bother checking her. I end up drifting as well. Next thing I know I hear the door open and see fuzzy figures rush to us and grab us. I have no strength left.

I jerk awake and am pushed back down by Lanie.

"KATE!" I yell.

"It's alright Castle. You're both fine. You just need to get warm alright."

I calm down. Lanie puts a blanket on me so I can get warm. At least she is okay. That's the main thing. After Lanie leaves, I get up and find Kate outside. She sees me and rushes to me. She wraps her arms around me in an embrace. She has a blanket around her too. I squeeze her tight to me and share my warmth with her.

"I'm so glad you're okay." I whisper in her ear.

"You too." she responds.

She pulls away slightly and looks around to make sure no one is watching. She quickly grabs my face and pulls me in for a slow passionate kiss. I feel the familiar electricity go through me.

"That'll get the blood flowing again." I say as we pull away.

She laughs and we kiss again. We back away from each other when we hear Fallon's car coming. He gets out and walks to us.

"Are you both alright?" he asks.

"Yes were fine." Beckett answers.

"Well, just don't go anywhere again without back up alright." he says sternly.

"Alright." she answers.

We get a lead on where the van is later that day. We are on the trail. We finally get to it and stop it. We look in the back and there is the bomb. And there's only a minute left. Beckett rushes with her phone to try to send Fallon a picture.

"Fallon!?"

_"__I can't see it."_ he responds. From the phone. _"I'm sorry."_

Only thirty seconds left. Kate takes my hand. 20. I look into her eyes. I see sadness and helplessness. 15. I look at her and back at the bomb. 10. Why? Why is this all happening. I am not going to just let this bomb go off and kill us. I furrow my eyebrows. Screw this. I grab every cord on it and yank just when the bomb hit one. Sparks fly and we find our selves tensing up waiting for the explosion. Nothing happens. We open our eyes and I drop the cords. We are overwhelmed with joy and relief. Kate starts to breath deeply.

"Castle." she yells before we embrace.

We let go. I quickly wipe the sweat from my face. I feel great.

"Yes!" I yell before pointing at the bomb and start to walk away.

Kate laughs and smiles at me. Later at the precinct, everyone congratulates us. We all drink beers in the break room after such an intense case.

"So wait. You just ripped them all out?" Esposito asks laughing.

Montgomery and Ryan are laughing with him.

"Well I figured one had to be the right one." I answer with a smile.


End file.
